Origins of music (and metal)

In my view, music is a cognitive hack. It taps into a number of different pre-existing ways that our brain uses to interact with and make sense of the external world, not least our inherent hard wiring for pattern recognition and the (evolutionarily useful) enjoyment of discovery, surprise and invention.

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Looking at some of the most obvious descriptions we tend to attach to metal music: ‘assertive’, ‘violent’, ‘primitive’… Perhaps these descriptors aren’t really all that arbitrary or socially-defined; rather the music really does hearken back to things you could fairly associate with those descriptions.

Imagine the sounds of primates screaming at each other as they bite and tear shreds off one another, the din of battle, etc. These impressions embedded somewhere inside our psychology from generations past are brought to the forefront by metal. If rock ‘n roll is the rhythm of sex, then metal is the rhythm of battle, of running, of methodically tracking then pounding the skulls in of prey.

Dark ambient/electro-industral project Cryosyncopy’s new album Culmination 2 is now available to download in its entirety for free from HIARCTOW.com. Produced once again by Síol Na Gréine, Culmination 2 follows in the paradigm of brooding, spacey, industrial ambient laid down by Culmination 1, whilst adding a more melancholy melodic sensibility to some of the quieter moments. […]

Now that you’ve got your teeth stuck in to the new Beithíoch release, Summoning the Past, you can now download the mini-album in various high quality formats from the band’s bandcamp page – with an added bonus of two all new tracks (totalling a further 18 minutes of music) for 2.50 euro. Click here to visit Beithioch. […]